Whiteley Reception

  Friday 28th February This week at school we were excited to walk to the postbox to post our letters.  We hope that they arrive soon!  On our walk, we practised using positional language to describe our journey and the features of our local environment e.g. "We walked past the bus stop", "We went over the stream". We made simple maps to show our walk and use Digimaps to show the route we took. We used google Earth to zoom into our school from space.  We discussed how our world looks from above and identified features.   Phonics This week in phonics we have learnt to read and write words with the phonemes j , v , w and x .  We have learnt the new tricky words me and be - these are words we learn to recognise by sight. Please use the games on your child's bug club account to practise these new sounds.  Please also check your child's reading log to find out which book has been allocated this week to practise these sounds at home.  This is real...

Friday 14th February  This week we have looked at the story 'Rosie's Walk' by Pat Hutchins.  We have learnt about positional language (over, across, through) and used these words to retell the story using story props. Click here to watch 'Rosie's Walk'. This image shows some of the other positional words we have been using this week. We have also been very busy writing letters to our families that we are going to pop into the postbox the week after half term.  Thank you if you have already sent in a stamped addressed envelope. Please ensure that your child's name is written clearly on your child's envelope. If you have not yet done so, please send in the named stamped addressed envelope  straightaway after half term as some children will be walking to the post box on Monday 24th February. Phonics This week in phonics, we have been learning the letters l, ll, s and ss  with a particular focus on letter formation and writing CVC words such as leg, sun and ...

  Friday 7th February This week we have continued to discuss the story of Stanley's stick. Using the sticks we bought to school, we talked about what they could be.  Then we have written a sentence about what we pretended our stick could be.  For example...                                                       The stick is a dinosaur. The stick is a fishing rod. The illustrator of Stanley's stick, Neal Layton, sent a video for the children to watch about how he creates his illustrations. It was very interesting.  Phonics This week in phonics, we have been learning the letters h, b, f and ff  with a particular focus on letter formation and writing CVC words such as hat, bin and fan. Maths This week in maths we have been focusing on the language of 'more than', 'fewer than' and 'have an equal number'. We have compared sets of objec...

 Friday 31st January  This week, we have been reading the story of 'Stanley's stick' by Jon Hegley and illustrated by Neal Layton.  We have discussed the language used in the story and talked abou t all the different things that Stanley imagines his stick to be. Maths This week, we have continued our work on activities that develop the children's understanding of composition, or the number within numbers. The children developed their understanding of pairs of numbers that make 5, and used double die frames to begin to explore 6 and 7 that are composed of '5 and a bit'. Phonics This week in Phonics, we have revisited the sounds ck, e, r, and u with a particular focus on letter formation and writing CVC words such as pen, rug and rat. Reading Thank you for returning the phonic reader books each Wednesday.  Unfortunately we are not having enough books back each week and baskets of books are looking rather empty. Please check you at home if you have any phonic readi...

 Friday 25th January Winter This week we have been looking at a non-fiction book about Winter.  We have learnt about the features of a non-fiction book such as contents page, headings, labels, the index and the glossary page. We also went for a walk in the woods to explore the effects of the changing seasons on the natural world around us.  We looked for minibeasts and made a tally chart of how many of each type of minibeast we found.  It was very exciting! Phonics In phonics this week we have been revisiting the letters g ,o,c and k.  We have used these sounds to focus on letter formation and to write CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. We have also revised the phase 2 tricky words.  Phase 2 tricky word song Reading Please can you check your child's reading log each Friday to find out which Bug Club book they have read at school each week.  This will be allocated to your child's bug club account.  Please can you read his book two more times ...

 Friday 17th January This week we have compared similar toys from now and the past. We thought about how they were the same and how they were different by looking at things such as the materials they were made from. Thank you so much for sending in photos of toys that you or your parents played with as children. We have really enjoyed looking at and talking about them. Phonics In phonics this week we have been revisiting the letters  i,n,m and d.  We have used these sounds to focus on letter formation and to write CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. We have also revised the phase 2 tricky words.  Phase 2 tricky word song Reading Please can you check your child's reading log each Friday to find out which Bug Club book they have read at school each week.  This will be allocated to your child's bug club account.  Please can you read his book two more times at home to develop your child's confidence and fluency.  It's really important to read the allo...

  Friday 10th January Happy New Year and welcome back to school.  We hope that you had a lovely time together.   T his week at school, we have been learning about toys.  The children talked to the class about their favourite toys and we have practised talking in full sentences. We learnt about the materials that toys are made from and compared the toys we play with now to those we enjoyed as babies.  The children tried hard to explain what makes toys suitable for babies and toddlers. Next week, we will be learning about toys in the past.  Please could you ask any grandparents or great grandparents if they have any photos of themselves as children playing with toys.  It would be lovely to share these with the class.  If you have any please could you email a copy to yearr@whiteleyapps.com Thank you! Phonics In phonics this week we have been revisiting the letters s,a,t and p.  We have used these sounds to focus on letter formation and to write ...

 Friday 13th December We would like to say a big THANK YOU to all the children for their wonderful nativity performances this week. They have been so excited to share the performance with you. I am sure you were just as excited to see them! Celebrations This week we have been thinking about celebrations, in particular Birthdays. We have been thinking about how birthday celebrations often have the same elements e.g. cards, presents and cake. We have also noticed that our birthday celebrations look different now from when we were babies. This week was Lola's birthday (our class toy). We celebrated by making cards and banners, by hanging balloons and of course, singing her happy birthday. Phonics This week in phonics we have been learning the letter sounds f, ff, l, ll, ss, s and h. We have been reading and writing words that contain these sounds. We have also revised all the letter sounds learnt so far. These are the phase 2 tricky words that we are learning. I, to, no, go, into, her...

  Friday 6th December This week, we have continued to read the story 'The foggy foggy forest'.  We have been writing a sentence to add to the story using rhyming words. Phonics This week in phonics we have been revisited the sounds b, d, e, f and the digraph ck . We have been reading and spelling words containing these phonemes e.g. bed, fun, rock etc. Bug Club Please see your child's reading log to see which book has been allocated this week.  We ask that you read the book twice more at home to support our 3 read approach. Thank you to those parents who are logging onto bug club and reading with their child.  It really does boost their confidence if they have shared the selected book at home. This week's bug club book to read at home is 'Is it a rock?' Maths This week in Maths, we have been thinking about the purpose of counting i.e. to find out how many objects there are?  The children have revisited 1-1 correspondence and remembering the stopping number. We...